Simple and Humble Thing - Part III
"...understand that your life's welfare eternally depends on your need, and for this reason and this reason alone you should love him"
I think the first thing here is indisputable as a believer in God - our welfare does eternally depend on our need. Our need to be in right relationship with God and others, to be made whole as persons, and to participate in the redemption of creation entire.
Yet I think that the second point is a mistake. If I love God only because he meets my greatest need, then I think this a lesser love. Like my three-year old boy, I would hope that he comes to love me not just because I meet his needs, but because we have a deep and growing relationship where we delight in each other. Surely this is true in our relationship with God, even if he is the one to whom we owe everything. If I told my wife that I loved her purely because she meets my need(s), I think she would be disappointed. Surely I love her because of who she is, not just what she does for me? I love her because we take great delight in sharing life together. Because she is the joy of my heart.
Would not God want our love because we come to know him more deeply and are in a growing relationship with him? Just as a marriage is fueled by intimacy, powered by love, and grounded in joy, so too is our relationship with our maker.
Psalm 42:1-2
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
Didn't Jesus criticize the crowds in John 6 because they followed him purely out of a desire to fill their bellies, rather than recognizing that he truly is the Bread of Life?
I would like to think that my reasons for loving God are far more than just having my need(s) met. This may have been the case at first, but haven't I moved beyond that now? We have a history together. I have enjoyed God's faithfulness, comfort, security, and hope, and love for most of my life now. I look forward to being with Jesus, seeing him as he is, and becoming like him.
Psalm 27:4
4 One thing I ask from the LORD,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
I think the first thing here is indisputable as a believer in God - our welfare does eternally depend on our need. Our need to be in right relationship with God and others, to be made whole as persons, and to participate in the redemption of creation entire.
Yet I think that the second point is a mistake. If I love God only because he meets my greatest need, then I think this a lesser love. Like my three-year old boy, I would hope that he comes to love me not just because I meet his needs, but because we have a deep and growing relationship where we delight in each other. Surely this is true in our relationship with God, even if he is the one to whom we owe everything. If I told my wife that I loved her purely because she meets my need(s), I think she would be disappointed. Surely I love her because of who she is, not just what she does for me? I love her because we take great delight in sharing life together. Because she is the joy of my heart.
Would not God want our love because we come to know him more deeply and are in a growing relationship with him? Just as a marriage is fueled by intimacy, powered by love, and grounded in joy, so too is our relationship with our maker.
Psalm 42:1-2
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
Didn't Jesus criticize the crowds in John 6 because they followed him purely out of a desire to fill their bellies, rather than recognizing that he truly is the Bread of Life?
I would like to think that my reasons for loving God are far more than just having my need(s) met. This may have been the case at first, but haven't I moved beyond that now? We have a history together. I have enjoyed God's faithfulness, comfort, security, and hope, and love for most of my life now. I look forward to being with Jesus, seeing him as he is, and becoming like him.
Psalm 27:4
4 One thing I ask from the LORD,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
posted by Paul at 12/17/2005 07:20:00 PM
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